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I wanted to share a couple of traditions I have when it comes to our weddings.

1) When I go to set up a wedding, I like to wear something in the wedding color scheme. I don’t always have something in the right color but when I do, I make sure I coordinate! In case someone takes my picture, it’s nice to blend in. I think I got that idea from a show on HGTV. When the interior designer was showing the completed project to her client, she always wore something that coordinated with the colors of the newly designed room.

2) I also like to wear the necklace that I wore on my own wedding day. It was my Grandmother’s necklace that she passed on to me as a wedding present.

3) When we deliver the wedding flowers to the ceremony site, my tradition is to hold the bride’s bouquet while we are in route. Of course we are very careful with all of the flowers while they are in transport but the bride’s bouquet gets special treatment and stays in my hands for the trip.

I hope you enjoyed reading this. I’m sure I’ll come up with a few more traditions over the years!

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I just returned from 3 days in Las Vegas and I wanted to tell you about my trip! I attended the Wedding MBA (Wedding Merchants Business Academy) 9th Annual Convention. It was my first time at this convention as well as my first ever trip to Las Vegas! What an adventure I had! I attended 18 seminars over 2 1/2 days and enjoyed seeing several wedding businesses in the trade fair, such as Wedding Wire, The Knot and many more. Over 2,400 wedding professionals from all over the country attended. There were wedding planners, DJ’s, caterers, photographers, videographers and others and of course Florists! It was fun to meet so many different people from all over the country dedicated to helping Brides achieve their dream weddings!

The seminars covered topics such as wedding trends for 2013, mobile websites/social media, hiring a great team, learning more about “Gen-Y” brides, planning for success and more! Two of my favorite seminars were “Blog Busters” where we learned about content, tips & tricks for writing blogs and also “Sunny Side Up” – Where we learned ten (actually 20+) things we can do to have a better day! A lot of things we already know but good reminders! Examples – Wake up early and exercise, eliminate distractions and keep focused, release yourself from envy and one of my favorites – have date nights! Obviously a great topic for everyone not just wedding vendors!

I had a great time and I was really glad that I was able to go! Now I’m ready to get back to work and help the brides that have chosen Weddings by Jennifer to be their florist!!

Here are a few pictures from my trip!

My badge!

Las Vegas Convention Center

Learning how to create an exceptional experience for our Brides!

Great seminar!

Gorgeous floral arrangements in the Bellagio lobby!

The conservatory at the Bellagio is beautiful! I talked to the the florist that was replacing the orange carnations for the pumpkin. Very cool!

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In honor of Father’s Day, I thought I would share a couple photos from my wedding of my Dad and I. It is indeed a special moment when your Dad walks you down the aisle and gives you away. I realize that not everyone gets to experience that, so it makes me even more appreciative that I did. I had no idea how emotional I would be in that moment, but as soon as I heard “Here comes the Bride” and saw all of the guests, I couldn’t stop the tears! I was so very happy and excited to be getting married! But, I was also very thankful to have my Mom and Dad’s blessing and support, as I started this new chapter of my life!

In honor of my parentsupcoming 40th Wedding Anniversary (yes I said 40th, isn’t that awesome?!?!), I thought I would tell you a little bit about their wedding and some of the floral trends of the 70’s. At the age of 20, they were married on May 20, 1972 at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Columbia, SC with the reception following in Satterlee Hall. Thanks to my Grandmother and Mother saving the “Wedding Flower Order“, I have a wonderful keepsake to remember the flowers that were used for my parents special day.

Their wedding florist was Mrs. Salter. My Mom spoke very highly of her and said, “I remember feeling really special cause she focused on ME and seemed genuinely interested in what I wanted for my flowers.” I also have a sweet note they kept from Mrs. Salter that says, “Janie, I am looking forward to this wedding with delight. Check over the list carefully and correct any mistakes I have made. Be sure to talk with me no later than Tuesday. Don’t forget to bring me your bible. Mrs. Salter”.

My Mom carried a “Prayer Book Bridal Bouquet” using a White Cattleya Orchid with a yellow throat placed on my Grandmother’s prayer book. My Mom described to me the wedding colors she chose, “Avocado Green and Harvest Gold were the popular colors back then- so we did the baskets green (Mama spray painted them) and the flowers in yellow. I thought they were so pretty!” The Matron of Honor (my Aunt Nancy) and the 4 Bridesmaids each carried the green baskets with yellow carnations and yellow & white daisies that complimented their lovely yellow dresses .

The boutonnieres were made with Carnations for my Dad, the Groomsmen and the Fathers. On the wedding order next to the Groom’s boutonniere it says “make special“. Aww! The corsages for the Mothers and three Grandmothers were made with Orchids. The altar flowers were made with White Mums and Yellow Carnations and white satin Bows were attached to the Pews.

Sounds like a lovely wedding, doesn’t it?! I’ve included a few of their wedding pictures. Enjoy!

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Since my husband and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversaryrecently, I thought I would share some of the details of my own wedding with you!

We were married on April 17, 1999 at Pine Island Club on beautiful Lake Murray. This facility is owned by SCE&G and because my Grandfather worked there for many years, we were able to book that venue for our special day. I’m pretty sure April 17th was the windiest day of that year! But, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day!

I was thrilled to have my only sister Jessica as my Maid of Honor. My step-daughter Jennifer (14 at the time) was a Junior Bridesmaid. Jennifer is now married and became a Mother just recently! The flower girl was my step-daughter, Kristen (6 at the time, now in college). She was the sweetest and prettiest little flower girl! The ring bearer was my step-son, Jeffrey (3 at the time, now in high school). He was the cutest little ring bearer and did a super job that day! From his picture below you might can tell he was a hand full at that age! Leading up to the wedding we had our flower girl and ring bearer practice “walking up the aisle” together so the ring bearer would know exactly what he was supposed to do, so cute! It was very important to me to include Jimmy’s children in our wedding. I love them dearly. Jimmy’s groomsmen were his brother-in-law, Matt, brother, Woody and my brothers Jason and Jonathan. I do wish we had done a wedding program to pass out to our guests. At the time, I didn’t realize the importance of listing the bridal party and their connection to both of us (as everyone may not have known), and also I needed a way to explain the special song written and sung by my Dad for me (that was played during the ceremony), as well as a place to thank our families for everything and to thank our guests for coming and sharing in our special day. Plus, it would have been a nice memento to have now! So, make sure to have programs printed!

Photography has really changed over the last several years. Now photographers take the pictures in such a way that “tell your wedding story”, as you are getting ready, all of the behind the scenes details, etc. Plus, you get a cd with all of the images so that you can share the photos with your friends and family! While we enjoy looking at our wedding album from time to time , we wish we had digital images too! Your photos are a lasting memory so be sure to do your research, meet with them and invest in a good photographer, you won’t be sorry! Photographers capture the images that help you remember your wedding like it was yesterday!

Oh, and Videography! Wow, a lot more emphasis is put on that now and I think that is great! We have a VHS tape (I don’t know if we even have a working VCR anymore) of our wedding day. We had an extended family member take the video for us, he was able to catch some really cute moments that we would have never known about but unfortunately I don’t remember the last time we watched it because it is on a video tape. He did a great job for us but obviously it is unedited, not set to music, taken from one angle, etc. These days you can hire a professional videographer to produce a high quality wedding video to capture all of the special memories of that day. It’s your own wedding movie that you can watch over and over and share with friends and family! Make your wedding video a priority! I say money well spent!

Our color scheme was lavender and white. I loved our invitations, they were on “vellum” paper with a detailed edge and were printed in lavender ink. I picked lavender roses and white lilies for my bouquet (still two of my favorite flowers). With me being a florist, many people asked me if I was going to make my own flowers. Actually, I don’t think I ever considered that. I guess I figured this was the one time that somebody else would do the work and I could just enjoy the day! I know DIY has become very popular and for some people that works, but I also know from being in the wedding business that we end up helping a lot of brides at the last minute because of issues they have encountered. Such as, the flowers they ordered online didn’t ship, or the flowers weren’t fresh and looked like garbage, or they realized they didn’t have time to make all of the centerpieces or bouquets like they thought they would, or they didn’t have the help they thought they were going to have, or they realized they didn’t have a vehicle large enough to transport everything and on and on. My advice would be to hire a professional florist (we did), so you can relax and enjoy the day and let them deal with the “issues” , if there are any. In the end, I promise it will be money well spent. Call me! 🙂

Thanks so much for reading! Please leave a comment, I would love to hear from you!

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As you might imagine, I knew exactly what flowers I wanted in my bouquet – White lilies and lavender roses!

Yes, I do love weddings and being a part of that special day for the Bride and Groom. Being a bride myself almost 13 years ago (April 17,1999) see “Our Wedding” post, I realize how important this day is to brides and I want to make each one feel special and confident that their wedding flowers will be beautiful! One less thing to worry about, right?! I had a customer tell me this week that she thought the flowers were what set the tone for the event. I couldn’t agree more! She is planning a formal cocktail party to celebrate an Engagement and she wanted the flowers to set the tone for her party. Knowing the type of event you are having helps us make appropriate suggestions. I feel that the flowers are such an important part of each wedding. They are captured in so many of the wedding photos as a lasting memory from that day. You want your flowers to convey the type of wedding that you want, whether it be casual & simple, eclectic & artsy, or formal & traditional. Let us help you set the tone for your wedding! ~ Jennifer

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You may be wondering who Jennifer is. If you are, you should keep reading, if not, you can go back to what you were doing! 🙂

My name is Jennifer Pryor and I live in Lexington, SC with my husband Jim and our awesome dog named Baylis. I started my working career at the young age of 13. I grew up in St. Louis, MO and began working for Duever’s Greenhouse. It was a great family owned and operated business where I learned how to work with customers and plants! I did a variety of jobs such as planting seeds/plugs into flats, transplanting and re-potting plants into pots, watering plants, more watering, learning what the names of plants were and how much sun they like and oh, how to make change! I really enjoyed my time there.

At the age of 16, I began working for Richter’s Florist in St. Louis. This is where I learned a lot about the retail florist business, such as answering the phones, taking orders, as well as designing floral arrangements. During my time there, I started with bud vases, then worked my way up to funeral pieces and then wedding bouquets. I never took any floral design classes, all of my training was on the job. I learned so much from the different seasoned designers who mentored me. I also worked for Ahner’s Greenhouses in STL and learned so much there too. I gained valuable experience at each of my jobs that ultimately led to my career decision.

I moved to South Carolina with my family in 1994 and I continued in the floral industry for a little while working at All Occasions Florist and Turners Florist in Lexington and then went to part-time/occasional help when I started a job at PMSC in Blythewood. I thought I would give another type of business a try since all I really knew was flowers. Well, really I was trying to find a husband….and I did! I did learn a lot about business during my 5 years there and met a lot of great people! Actually, my husband was the one that said to me “You should open your own flower shop”…and we did about a year after we were married!

Almost 20 years later and with close to 30 years design experience, here we are! We started out as Lexington Flower Company in Topspin Plaza on 378 and then in 2006 moved into a historic house on Old Cherokee Rd and we changed the name to fit our new location – White House Florist. Over the years, we have done several weddings with so many wonderful Brides and worked at some great venues and with some great wedding professionals in the area,planners & coordinators, photographers, videographers, makeup artists, cake bakers, caterers, DJ’s and so many others. We decided recently that we wanted to expand our wedding business and have a focus just on Brides and their wedding flowers and so White House Wedding Flowers became the new division of our company.

So, now that you know a little more about me, I would love to meet you and be a part of your wedding!